Cooking apparatus



Feb. 11,` 1941. J, D FERRY COOKING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 20, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 11, 1941.

J. D. FERRY COOKING APPARATUS Filed Sept. zo. 19s? 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gnam/w10@ JOSEPHZZFEHPY Patented Feb. 11, 1941 PATENT OFFICE COOKING APPARATUS Joseph D. Ferry, Harrisburg, Pa.: Sylvia 0. Ferry executrix of Joseph D. Ferry, deceased Application September 20, 1937, Serial No. 164,785

4 Claims.

This invention relates to food treating apparatus, particularly to apparatus designed for cooking vegetables of small bulk or in comminuted form, such as potato slices in producing potato chips. An apparatus of the general type to which this invention appertains is disclosed in my prior Patent No. 2,056,845, granted October 6, 1936.

This application is a continuation as to all common subject matter disclosed in my prior copending application Serial No. 114,054, filed December 3, 1936.

In the cooking of potato chips, such factors as the rate of progression of the slices through the body of cooking liquid, the position of individual slices, the extent to which they are submerged in the liquid and the duration of such submergence, play an important part in determining the quality of the product. If the slices do notreceive uniform treatment in the cooking operation the chips will vary as to color and crispness.

It is highly desirable to produce chips of substantially uniform character and appearance, especially as such chips are marketed principally in packages or containers of transparent material.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cooking apparatus having novel food impelling means for conveying articles of food through a body of cooking liquid and maintaining such articles uniformly submerged in the liquid while being conveyed.

Another obiect is to provide in such an apparatus a plurality of serially arranged impellers adiustable in unison, or individually relative to each other, to vary their effective food engaging and conveying angles relative to the major axis of travel of the food articles through the cooking liquid.

A further object is to provide potato chip cooking apparatus impeller means operable to advance a mass of slices in a body of cooking liquid through a series of successive zones in each of which the slices are impelled along forwardly and downwardly inclined paths while completed submerged; the zones being staggered whereby to effect areversal of the slices in passing from one zone to the next.

A still further object is to provide .impeller mechanism for potato chip cooking apparatus by which the slices are successively moved forwardly and downwardly beneath the surface of a body of cooking liquid at intervals, whereby slices as they rise toward the surface ofthe liquid are carangle rail il having its upper flange directed latried forwardly and downwardly ahead of the following rising slices.

Other objects will be apparent from the description.

In the drawings, wherein like reference char- 5 acters indicate like parts throughout the several views:

Figure l is a side elevation, partly broken away, of a. cooking apparatus embodying the present invention. 10

` Figure 2 is a partial top plan view thereof, sectioned on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a ver-tical transverse section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of an impeller detail.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal section through a cooking apparatus equipped with an alternative structural embodiment of impeller.

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the embodiment shown in Figure 5.

Figure '7 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view illustrating a detail of the impeller shown in Figures 5 and 6. t

Figure 8 is a transverse section on the line 2 8-8 of Figure 7.

The apparatus as shown comprises a cooking kettle I o of the construction disclosed in my aforesaid prior copending application, having an upwardly inclined bottom Iiat its outlet end associated with an endless belt foraminous conveyor l2 by which the cooked chips are removed from the body of cooking liquid Il, such as oil, within the kettle. The kettle is heated by means not shown, and preferably has a sloping bottom, also not shown, which increases in depth toward the outlet end, al1 as disclosed in my aforesaid prior copending application.

Along each upper longitudinal edge of the side walls of the kettle there is suitably secured an erally outward from the kettle and ilush with the upper edge of the wall. Split bearings lli are secured to the lateral rail flanges at intervals spaced longitudinally of the kettle, arranged as 4- transversely aligned pairs in which are Journalled impeller drive shafts i0. The upper sections Il of these bearings are hinged as at il to the lower sections and secured by wing nuts I! so that the upper bearing sections may be swung back to per- 50 mit ready removal of the shafts il when desired. At one side of the kettle each impeller shaft it extends laterally beyond the rail i4 and mounts a fixed pinion 20 at its end. The pinions mesh with pinions 2| ilxed to stub shafts 22 driven by sprockets 23 and mounted in brackets 2li arranged at the side of the kettle in the manner shown in Figure 2 of my said prior copending application Serial No. 114,054. Similar brackets 25, only one of which is shown in Figure 2, carry idler sprockets 2 6 on stub shafts 21. A drive chain 28 is trained over the sprockets 23 and 5 and over a sprocket Si) fixed to a transverse driving shaft 2Q at the outlet end of the kettle. Shaft 23 'drives the belt conveyor l2 and has fixed thereto a sprocket 33 driven by a chain 3l from a source of power, not shown. As the shaft 29 is rotated by means of its chain and sprocket connection with the power source, it is obvious that the conveyor I 2 and the impeller drive shafts i6 will be driven in unison.

Each impeller drive shaft I5 mounts an impeller unit comprising a pair of transversely aligned side frames 32 pivotally suspended within the kettle from the shaft i6 to swing in close proximity to the adjacent side walls of the kettle. In the embodiment herein disclosed each yside frame 32 is of substantially triangular configuration, comprising a flat vertically disposed plate having at its base portion a rear leg 33 extending in the direction of the'inlet end of the kettle and a front leg 36 extending in the direction of the outlet end. The tips of the rearward legs 33 provide bearings in which is journalled a shaft 35 transversely of the kettle. A sprocket 35 is fixed to the shaft 35 inwardly of and in close proximity to each side plate. Similarly, the tips of the front legs 3d provide bearings for a transverse shaft 3l having likewise fixed thereto sprockets 38. Sprockets 39 are fixed to the drive shaft i6 to cooperate with the sprockets 36 and 3B; the three sprockets 36, 38 and 33 adjacent each side frame 32 being in a common vertical plane and having trained thereover an endless chain dil. Impeller paddles in the form of channel irons 3l are secured to the chains in closely spaced relation over the entire extent of the chains with the side flanges 62 ofthe channels being directed outwardly.

The channel paddles di are secured to the chains in the manner shown in Figure 4. One side piece of every other link in the chain is formed with an integral ear directed laterally to provide a perpendicular attaching lug d3 to which the bottom of a channel lli is attached, as by a rivet M. t

As best shown in Figure 3, each side frame plate 32 is integrally continued above its point of pivotal suspension from its shaft l5 as a laterally'oset upstanding lever 35. The onset is laterally outwardly of the kettle so that each lever l5 is disposed over the adjacent side rail lf3, thus providing sufficient clearance for the ends of the channel paddles di which extend from the sides of thechains i9 almost to the adjacent side walls of the kettle in order to prevent passage of potato slices around the ends of the impeller paddles. Lifting handles 36 are carried by the upper ends of the levers 35 so that when the split bearings of any impeller unit are swung openas previously described, the entire unit may be lifted vertically from the kettle for cleaning or repair.

At one side of the kettle each impeller unit lever 5 is connected to the next adjacent unit lever lby a turnbuckle rod il pivotally connected at its ends to the. respective levers and adjustable by means of the turnbuckle i8 to vary its length. At one end of the kettle a control lever 39 is mounted for releasable latching engagement with a quadrant 56 in a known manner, and an actuator rod 5I is pivotally connected at one end to the control lever and at its other end is plvotally connected to the adjacent impeller unit lever d5. It will be obvious that as the control lever is manipulated the respective impeller unit levers 5 will be correspondingly oscillated on their pivot fulcrums comprising the shafts i6 to move in unison and through identical arcs of movement.

The setting of any impeller unit relative to its axis of rotation may be individually altered relative to the setting of the other units by adjusting the turnbuckles 33 to shorten or increase the length of the rods M to the required degree.

In the form of impeller shownin Figures 5 to 8 all structural details identical with those prevl5' ously described are identified by the same reference characters, rendering repetition of descriptive matter unnecessary. In this embodiment the impeller paddle structure differs, the channeled paddles being replaced on the chains by an endless foraminous belt, preferably a Wire fabric belt 52, The manner of attaching the belt 52 to the chains ISU is shown in Figures 7 and 8. At suitably spaced intervals certain links of the chains l0 have their side pieces provided with a laterally extending lug 53 apertured for connect-ion with an eye 53 at the outer end. of a pin 55 woven laterally inwardly through the meshes of the fabric at the side edges of the belt, thus providing a flexible connection between the belt and chains, and one that is readily detachable.

An important feature of the invention resides in the fact that the axes of the parallel shafts 35 and 3l in the leg portions of each impeller unit are disposed normally in a plane that is inclined 3.; or angled with respect to the horizontal axis of thev travel of the potato slices longitudinally of the kettle from inlet to outlet. In this normal operating position of the parts, as shown in Figures l and 5, the impeller unit levers 45 are in a vertical position, the front leg cariied shafts 31 being but very slightly below the level of the cooking liquid and the rear leg carried shafts 35 being disposed appreciably thereabove. Due to the position of the shafts si the lower night of 45 each endless impeller will enter the cooking liquid at a downwardly and forwardly inclined angle approximately midway between the sprockets 35 and 38 and will be completely submerged beneath 50 the liquid at the sprockets 38 of the forward leg portions of the side frames. Y

The path of travel of the lower flight of the impeller is parallel to a plane passed through the axes of the shafts 35 and 3l in each impeller 55 unit. The drive of the mechanism is such that the impeller drive shafts and drive sprockets are rotated clockwise with respect to Figures 1 and 5 so that the impellers move the mass of slices forwardly through the kettle in the direction of the arrows in. Figure l, from inlet end to outlet end, positively engaging the uppermost slices and moving themwhile sov engaged forwardly and downwardly beneath the cooking liquid and at the same time sliding the uppermost slices over 65 and ahead of those beneath. l

This action of the impellers effectively insures against stratification of the slices and prevents agglomeration. Also, it assures complete and uniform submergence of all the slices as they travel through the kettle, giving a uniform product. Y

it is further a feature of the invention that the impeller units are serially arranged longitudinally of the kettle in end to end relationship,

the ends of the units being somewhat spaced apart.

By virtue of this arrangement the mass of slices are moved forwardthrough the kettle through successive zones in each of which they are totally and uniformly submerged in the cooking liquid and are positively moved forwardly and downwardly. These zones are spaced apart by turning zones in which the slices are permitted to rise to the top of the cooking liquid in the areas between the points at which the endless impellers leave the cooking liquid and the points at which the next forward impellers enter the liquid.

'I'he impetus given the slices as the impellers leave the cooking liquid combined with their upward rise through buoyancy serves effectively to cause the slices to turn over between the time they pass from beneath one impeller and the time they are engaged by the next.

'Ihe rate of progression of the slices as well as the depth and duration of their complete submergence may be regulated at various points in the kettle by individual adjustment of the setting of the impeller units. For example, with reference to Figure 1, the right hand impellerunit may be swung on its axis of rotation on the shaft I6 by manipulating the turnbuckles 48 either to depress or elevate the forward end ofthe unit to increase or decrease the angle of inclination at which the lower night of the endless impeller enters the cooking liquid and thus correspondingly alter the depth to which the impeller submerges the yslices as well as the duration of submergence.

. Likewise, the setting of all units may be a1- tered in unison by appropriate manipulation of the control lever 48, whereby each unit moves simultaneously and identically. 'I'his adjustment may be accomplished without affecting the continuous operation of the impellers 'as the unit frames 32 swing freely on the shafts I6 independently of the rotation of the shafts while driving the sprockets 39.

Having thus described the invention, `what is claimed is:

1. A food treating apparatus comprising a receptacle for treating liquid, a series of endless belt food impellers therein with their lower nights submerged at the front end beneath the liquid and elevated at the rear end above the liquid, and each of said impellers being adjustable relative top, a frame freely to the others to vary the extent of submergence of their lower nights.

` 2. A food treating apparatus comprising a receptacle for treating liquid, a series of endless belt food impellers therein in end to end relation, said impellers having their lower nights inclined from a point above the liquid at one end to a point below'the liquid level at the other end, means operable to change the inclination of said impeller nights in unison, and means adjustable to vary the inclination of individual nights relative to each other.

3. In a cooking apparatus, a kettle for cookin g oil, a driven shaft supported across the kettle rotatable on said shaft and pivotally suspended therefrom within the kettle, said frame having outward lateral offsets extend- -irrg over and above the sides of the kettle, a

lever on the outer ends of the offsets and clear of the kettle interior, an endless belt impeller carried by said frame within the kettle in operating connection with said shaft, and means on said frame guiding the lower night of the impeller at an angle down beneath the surface of the oil from a point thereabove.,

4. In a cooking apparatus, a kettle for cooking oil, a driven shaft supported across the kettle top, a frame comprising a pair of planar substantially triangular side plates pivotally and freely suspended at their apex portions from said shaft and depending within the kettle closely adjacent the side walls thereof, shafts connect- 'ing the ends of the base portions of said plates and parallel to said top shaft, a sprocket nxed on said driven top shaft, sprockets on said base portion carried shafts, all said sprockets being disposed inwardly of said side plates, endless chains .trained over said sprockets, said side plates being continued above their apices in outwardly directed laterally onset portions above and over the sides of the kettle, frame position adjusting levers carried by said onset portions, and a series of closely spaced parallel impeller members secured to said chains and extending transversely thereof entirely across the kettle interior, the ends of said impellers overlying the base ends of said side plates and their offset apex portions and terminating in very slightly spaced relation from the side walls of the kettle.

JOSEPH D. FERRY. 

